Tuesday, July 29, 2008

So far, I have 4 dozen quarts of green beans canned, 7 quarts of tomato juice (did those last night), a few quart bags of peppers frozen, and just now sat down to rest a while from bagging 9 dozen ears of corn for the freezer! I am so tired and I still have a large black canner full of corn to make cream corn later tonight.

Today is mine and Roger's 24th wedding anniversary. We had plans to spend the day together and eat supper at Outback Steakhouse, but he needed to work, the engine light is on in my Taurus again (just paid nearly $400 a couple weeks ago to fix it), and the corn was ready to pick. So early this morning he picked the corn before he went to work, and I have spent all day shucking, then cleaning and blanching and wrapping and bagging..... I will probably dream about corn tonight, lol! After all my complaining ~ I will say that I am very thankful for a good garden this year and we will appreciate it this winter. We'll see if I say that again after we've opened the 48th jar of green beans and have eaten the 108th ear of corn!

Now we are in the market for a good used upright freezer. We have a small chest freezer, but whatever's in the bottom always gets forgotten. I will have to search the classifieds in the next few days I guess.

I did manage to get another set of Sepia & Colonial Blue Frakturs painted while the tomato juice was simmering last night. Then this morning before I started with the corn, I did the little bit of shading and framed them. They will be available this weekend. I am also having a giveaway for my mailing list customers. I have a questionnaire for them to fill out and return by email, and all the names will go in a drawing for $20, $15, and $10 shopping coupons, good for anything on my website or the 3 online markets where I sell my handmade items. If you'd like to be included, just go to my website and sign up on my mailing list.

Roger's home and we're grilling steaks.... and then the corn will soon be calling my name..... happy anniversary honey!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

This kind ~ catch up ~ where you are overwhelmed with anything and everything and you don't think you'll ever come up for air? Well, I don't play it ~ I live it! Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad, and usually it's good, lots of orders, lots of bounty from the garden to be canned and frozen, going to church, visiting family, talking to friends... but some days I am so far behind... and I don't want anyone to think I've purposefully neglected them.

Day before yesterday I picked more beans, a 5 gallon bucket full, cooked a big cooker of them.... we're eating green beans every day this week, mind you. And I still had plenty left to send a big "mess of beans" to my sister and to an elderly couple. You do know what a mess of beans is don't you?

Then yesterday I had to go to town to pay bills, back home to work on orders, then last night I worked till just after midnight on a few more frakturs. I didn't get them all painted and so I was going to get up early this morning and finish them since they are supposed to be on my website tonight at 7 pm (plug, plug!). Here is a sneak peek...

So this morning I wake up at a little after 7.... yikes ~ I overslept! Drink my coffee, get dressed, and do a few dishes left from last night. I'm getting ready to go into my workroom to paint.... and here comes my sweet husband with 2 more 5 gallon buckets full of GREEN BEANS, LOL!!! He got up at 5:30, made coffee, and picked beans for me, awwwww, how thoughtful (if you detect a note of sarcasm here ~ you're imagining it). Needless to say, I still don't have the watercolors finished, but I do have beans canning as I type this.

Now, I need to tell you about some very dear bloggers who awarded me with, what else, an award! I know many of you have these coming out your ears, and so I won't pass them on this time. I do want to thank each of these ladies for thinking of me ~ you are all wonderful!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Don't you just love birds? I love opening the doors and windows every day so I can hear them sing. I keep feeders just outside my workroom and they provide my music. I can hear them now as I type this post. Nothing can compete with nature's melody. I love them. I guess that's why I collect bird items ~ bird prints, bird nests (found fallen from the branches), bird egg shells, feathers, bird watercolors and needlework made by friends, etc. I also make bird themed items, I have made more of my A Bird in the Hand pieces than I can count and I love painting birds. My paintings are just whimsical watercolors inspired by 18th and 19th century fraktur art. My most recent ones are pictured above and may be seen in individual photos on the Artwork page of my website.

Below are some of the birds around our home...

TD ~ the turkey that won't leave. He's outside the pen and I'm inside with the chickens, lol!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Hmmm, how can I connect the items in the title? Simple! I have been working on all of those this past week ~ multi-tasking is my middle name! Actually Marlene is my middle name but we'll just pretend today, lol! And I'm really not that good at multi-tasking. I usually have so many projects going at once that I get overwhelmed and threaten to run away from home for a few days. Then I realize that wouldn't work because all of my projects and more would be waiting for me when I returned, so I just do the best that I can.

I have several new items for sale on my website and the online markets that I am a part of ~ just click the HONEYSUCKLE LANE WARES ARE FOUND HERE links in the sidebar to see what's new. I did jump the gun a little bit and update my website a day early. Yesterday was our Homecoming at church, and tonight is the beginning of week long revival meetings, so I will be gone a few hours each night this week. I had rather update my website a little early instead of late.

The first two photos (above) are in the French collection and may be seen on my website (check out the Artwork and Whimsies pages) and they will also be listed on Simply Primitives on the 15th.

The photo below is part of my Simple Joys IVORY Note Cards that are on the Artwork page of my site, as well as being on The Primitive Gathering this month.

I'm sure I'll be picking more beans this week and that take a lot of time to pick, string, break, and can ~ whew ~ I'm tired just thinking about it, lol! That's another reason for my updating early ~ gardening and canning. While working in the garden, if I get tired of picking beans, or squash, or whatever is ripe, I just remind myself that we are blessed to have a garden that is producing so well.

Let's see, I still needed to mention Christmas ~ TDIPT Mercantile is doing a Christmas in July theme so be sure to check it out. We have new items on there on the 1st and 15th of each month, but the webmaster usually updates the evening before. The same goes for the other markets that I am a member of and if you don't want to miss an update, sign up on their mailing lists to be notified when they update and have the new pages ready.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

I know some of you bloggers LOVE the vintage pouffy party dresses and my daughter is selling one on ebay this week! I thought I'd advertise for her a little bit. She has a couple more to list today, different colors and styles / eras, all vintage. You may see them here ~ only one will show till I get the other 2 listed. My pc kept freezing up every time I tried to list on ebay so hopefully today will be better. Thanks for looking!and....

I'm currently working on things for the 15th updates for 3 online markets. There will be Christmas in July items (all ivory and glittery and sparkly ~ but vintage of course!), 18th century French wallpaper inspired items (as pictured above), and more! I made these dainty wall paper boxes to hold silk pincushions embellished with antique buttons. I'm working on a watercolor ~ a sample of mid 1700s French wallpaper. It will be in the same colors as the wall paper boxes.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Thanks for checking back in ~ I thought I'd better get this post taken care of before I forget how everything went! I am now in my 40s, you know, and I've discovered that the memory of a 41 year old is not quite the same as the memory of a 31 year old.

My family and I thoroughly enjoyed having Suzanne / Painter of the Past here for a visit. I didn't want to wear her out, but at the same time, didn't want her to be bored! Besides all the chatting we did while she was here, I took her to see some of the sights in the area.

First on the list were several thrift / junk / antique shops. We spent the whole day junking! I actually was quite proud of myself. I didn't buy a lot that day, but did find a couple Trixie Belden books. I read the series as a girl and would LOVE to put a set together a set again.

Another day I took Suzanne to Rugby where we browsed the 2 story Commissary, and drove around the village where I showed her homes from the 1880's as well as several new homes that my husband and his brothers built. Pictured below is the church in Rugby and one of the old homes.

Saturday, the day of the Lavender Festival we were up before the chickens! It's about an hour's drive to Oak Ridge and we had to leave in time to get everything set up and move the car before people started arriving. When we were leaving the house at about 5:15 am, we stepped out on the porch and heard a loud whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!! The turkey decided to fly down from his roost as we were leaving!

The photos below are taken at the festival. The first one is looking from my booth out onto the parking lot where it was packed with vendors getting ready for the crowd.

Next, is a photo of my booth. This year we were asked to scrunch up to an 8x8 space instead of the usual 10x10. It worked out fine and I had great sales!

A fellow blogger came by to visit ~ Donna of Cottage Days & Journeys and her husband stopped to say hello. Both of them were such nice people! Another lady, Karen, came by to say hello too. She doesn't have a blog, but has visited mine... and she was a vendor at the festival. Karen had some really pretty cottage style painted items in her booth.

Betsy of Foothill Primitives and her husband, Tim, came by to see Suzanne and me! She brought both of us a bag of her handmade wax ornaments that smell soooo good! We were hoping to see a few more ladies from online groups, but they couldn't make it. Maybe next year! This is Betsy and me...

Sunday after church, we went to Pall Mall, TN in Fentress County (my home county where I was born and raised). We visited Sgt. Alvin C. York's home, and the old store and the gristmill. It was a nice relaxing day ~ which was needed after the busy day at the festival. Below s a photo of Sgt. York's homeplace.

This last photo was taken the day we took Suzanne back to the airport. That's me on the left (Rachael ~ you're right! Jess cut my hair), my daughter Jessica in the middle, and Suzanne on the right. We didn't take any goodbye photos at the airport, which was just as well, since I did start to get a little teary and that wouldn't have made a good photo!

On the way to the airport, we were already planning another visit, so...... I'm sure we'll have more trips to share with you someday.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit Suzanne's blog for more photos.

~*~

UPDATE! Suzanne brought me some beautiful gifts when she came to visit.

First is a watercolor painting she did of a mourning dove. I love these birds and enjoy watching them on my back porch. They were always in abundance at my parents' home and Mama and Daddy always made sure that the doves had plenty of food. They enjoyed sitting on the porch and watching the birds, too.

Suzanne and I have a mutual friend, Patti, who does exceptional needlework! Several months ago, Patti surprised me with a Simple Joys stitched heart. It's perfect! For this piece, she used a Stacy Nash pattern. Then, when Suzanne was here, besides the beautiful watercolor, she gave me the silhouette pillow that she purchased from Patti. Isn't is gorgeous? I have a collection of bird prints and rescued nests and eggs (or parts of egg shells) and this goes perfectly with them. Patti also has a blog so be sure to go say hello.

Now, unless I rememeber something else that I previously forgot... I'll move on to something else in the next post. Smokey is growing, the garden is coming in, and the turkey is still around... I'm sure I'll have something to talk about!

I know, I said I'd be back and tell about the Lavender Festival and Suzanne's visit. There has just been so much to do. How in the world did my parents find the time to do all that they did? I think the answer lies in what we consider a priority. Priorities have changed from one generation to the next. Time saving technological devices can be blamed, too. So many things are made for our convenience and to make life easier and better, but in turn, we spend an enormous amount of time with these devices... the computer, the telephone, the tv, the fax machine, the cell phone, blackberries, ipods..... hmmm, and I don't even have the last 4 mentioned, lol!

So, I promise (really!) that if the good Lord allows it, I will be back tonight to tell about the festival and the visit and will share photos. Oh ~ that's another great device ~ the digital camera!

Adornments

Art - Originals and Prints

Blessings

I designed these book page wings in 2009 after hearing my daughter talk of angel wings for a Christmas play. You may read more by clicking on the photo.

Vintage Book Page Wreaths

I began designing these in 2008 and sold them in my Honeysuckle Lane Etsy shop. Paper designs sort of took over my creative life and I opened a second shop, Simple Joys Paperie. You may see more in the sold section of my Simple Joys Paperie Etsy shop. Just click on the photo.